Game
by YamCAKE
Summary: Let's play a game. A game that involves the whole of Gakuen Alice, a game of luck, determination, and skill. Enter the story through the eyes of various students and beware the evil force lurking in the shadows.
1. First step

Narumi strolled into the classroom with a slight wave. The students of his class hesitantly returned to their seats after creating a huge mess around the classroom, which included some spilled blue liquid, several mini explosions which scarred the tables and chairs, and cracks on the walls. Narumi wasn't surprised to say the least, as this was the usual scene of the classroom. He looked around and spotted Natsume beside Ruka, with his feet on the table, manga covering his face. Obviously sleeping. Well, Narumi wasn't about to risk his life just to wake him up.

Hotaru was also doing what she usually did. With a large machine on the table, the little inventor was referring to her blueprints while fixing whatever the thing was. That thing looked... _dangerous_. Slightly worried, Narumi turned to Yuu, who was desperately trying to clean up the blue puddles. Poor Yuu. Koko, not to mention, was busy reading everyone's thoughts, especially Sumire's, out loud, causing her to storm over to Hotaru's seat to purchase a Baka Cannon. Kitsuneme was talking to Mochu and Anna and Nonoko was discussing their homework. That about sums up everyone... except Mikan.

As if right on cue, the little girl threw open the doors of the classroom, panting.

"Narumi-sensei, sorry I'm late. I...I," she faltered. But Narumi grinned. "I'm glad you're here, Mikan-chan. Let's begin class."

"Okay, Tobita-kun, can you come here? Ah, yes, distribute this... thank you. So, everyone," Narumi picked up the chalk and begun to write on the black board. "I've got a surprise for you!" Everyone immediately quietened and looked over at Narumi. Satisfied at the overwhelming attention, he continued. "The teaching staff has decided to organize a game. The game will be played with four people each and you'll be with your ability class, just like the sports festival. Oh, and starting from this year, it's going to be an annual event."

Hands shot up in the air. "Can you use your alice?"

"That's the most interesting part. Yes, you can. Listen carefully; this is how the game will be played. One of the abilities class members will participate in each game. Dangerous abilities will return to their original class for this game. So, as there are four classes, the four will stand in a circle around the golden star in the middle. They will be quite far away from the star. The objective of the game is to reach the star and pass it to the representative of the class. We have arranged for you to be playing against your fellow friends. It's not as easy as it sounds," Narumi smiled as some of the students snorted. "Imagine the opponent's alices. With Kitsuneme-kun, you fly to the star without breaking a single sweat. With Hotaru-chan, you get a variety of devices aimed to help you in the game." As this begun to sink in, some of the students' faces turned grim.

"That's about it. When a person is successful, he or she will get to stay in the game for a second round. The rest of the three will be replaced by other students. A person can at most stay for three rounds a day, so the event will last for quite long, maybe a week? There will be no lessons."

At that sentence, the whole class begun to party. The girls squealed with delight and the boys were roaring their approval, clapping each other on the backs. Narumi had to use his alice to calm them down.

"Settle down," he said sweetly. "There are still rules however. You cannot cause any harm, both physically and mentally, to your opponents. Not to mention, alices will not affect the star, so you can't levitate it to you or whatever. The event will start a week from now, so you will have to prepare. Meanwhile, normal classes will be replaced with your abilities classes starting from now. All detentions will also be postponed to after the event. Isn't that great?" No one replied, because his alice was still in place. Narumi picked up his attendance booklet and got out of the classroom. At once, the bell rang, and the children made a mad dash towards their respective ability classroom, all except Natsume and Ruka.

"What do you think, Natsume?" Ruka asked softly.

Natsume glanced at Ruka. "I don't know. The fact that I do not have to be in dangerous ability for this game is..." He stood up. "I suppose I'll just ignore my class, though." His lips twitched into a ghost of a smile, and the two took their time to walk out.

Meanwhile, Mikan spotted Tsubasa and Misaki walking together behind Tono, who was ranting something about the girls he had dated and things like that. "Sempai!" she called and ran towards them. A smile broke out on Misaki's face as she turned around, and she let Mikan throw her arms around her. Tsubasa patted her head with a grin and Tono immediately dropped his previous topic.

"Mikan-chan, you've grown so much taller! Cute as always," Tono was gushing. With Mikan tugging on Misaki's sleeve, they made their way through the crowds. As soon as they reached the still-empty classroom, Tsubasa flicked on the light and Tono flung himself onto the nearest sofa, complaining about how tired he was. Misaki kicked him off the sofa, saying that it was "her seat", and just then the rest of the Specials filed in. Surprisingly, Noda was there.

"Okay, everyone sit in a circle. We're going to start today's... meeting. I'm supposed to pick a representative for the game. What about Tsubasa?"

"_What_? No. No way, Noda-sensei. Not in this lifetime. Ask Tono."

"Tono?" Noda questioned hopefully.

"Of course! Obviously I am the most suitable candidate." There was sarcastic silence.

"So it's decided. Once any of you get the star, get it to Tono. Tono, you can't participate in the game, and-"

Tono gaped at Noda like a goldfish. "_Why_? Why can't I play?"

Noda cleared his throat. "If the representatives play, who will take their role? And either way, you lose, Tono. How are you supposed to use your alice, amplify the other team's and make them stronger? Sorry," Ignoring his grumbles, Noda continued. "As I was saying, pass the star to Tono. Anyone else who touches it will be a foul, which means we will not get any points, and a star is 10 points. The teachers have also installed a security system against cheating, and punishments are cleaning the barf cans for a fortnight. That's all."

Tsubasa gasped. "That's all? We're supposed to sit like this for a week?"

Misaki snorted. "We discuss strategies and start alice training, you idiot."

"That's right. So, we'll start one on one. Misaki, Tsubasa? Come to the middle of the classroom. The rest of you, sit near the walls."

Everyone slowly got up and shuffled aside. Tono dragged Mikan away while Noda took off his watch and left it on the floor between Misaki and Tsubasa. "Let's pretend that this is the star. Use your alices to get to it. No harming each other. Get it? Okay, start."

Misaki immediately split clones of herself, everywhere. Tsubasa groaned, and started to momentarily stop their shadows from moving, but there were too many of them. To stop Misaki from creating new clones and stop moving, he needed to find the real one.

_If only he could lure her out..._

He took a tentative step towards the watch, hoping that his plan would work.

When she saw that, Misaki's eyes narrowed just the slightest bit. It was almost unnoticeable, but Tsubasa sprang forward and grabbed her by her arm. "I win, Misaki," he whispered, and smirked at her. All the doppelgangers immediately froze and Tsubasa scooped the watch up to pass it to Noda. Misaki rolled her eyes, scowling at Tsubasa.

"Impressive, but the real event will be much tougher. You'll be standing much further apart," Noda smiled and everyone started clapping. Mikan hugged Misaki to cheer her up and whispered, "You were great!".

The teacher looked around for more people to try out. After a few more rounds, it was time for dinner and everyone was exhausted. "Don't be late for practice tomorrow as we will be doing one-on-one with me, and I'll help you plan on how to use your alice. And one more thing, please try and keep a distance from your friends as we do not want any secrets we might have to leak out. You are also not allowed to talk about our training, so it would be better if you stay together during lunch, dinner, or breaks in between." His gaze softened as he noticed the gloomy students. "This will be worth it as the event will be fun. It's just two weeks. You can resume your daily lives after this. Dismissed."


	2. Unusual Behaviour

Dinner time was not at all enjoyable. There was an uncomfortable silence as well as awkward expressions on the students' faces. Hotaru, for once, left the dinner table early without finishing her food, muttering about "being busy" and that she had "something to do". Mikan started playing with her food before drinking only her miso soup and retiring to her bedroom. The rest of the class huddled together in their respective ability class, talking in hushed teachers, of course, noticed. "The atmosphere is colder," Narumi commented to no one in particular.

"I thought that this event was specially created to help the students explore their alices, and not to mention, establish friendship and stronger bonds. Obviously I was wrong," Jinno was being blunt as usual.

"It will be better during the event. The students are just keeping silent so as to not leak any information, just as we instructed them to," Misaki reasoned.

Serina repeated what she normally said. "I'll keep a look out for any changes or improvements in my crystal ball." With that, she grabbed the stack of homework handed in by the students and took her leave after a curt nod at the other teachers. Misaki also returned to the greenhouse to tend to the plants and Jinno went to print stacks of homework intended for the students, saying, "Although there are no lessons, the is no rule against giving out homework. Students need to practice frequently in order to produce good results."

Soon, the dining hall emptied, with each teacher hoping that things will look up tomorrow and with each student thinking about how to use their alice to their greatest extent.

The next morning, Hotaru woke up later than usual with a frown on her face. She squinted at her inventions scattered all around her room and begun to throw pieces of scrap materials, wires and metal tools into a box. The reason why she was so irritated was because a certain someone had not dropped by to disturb the peace in her awfully quiet room. Yet. She waited until she was almost late for her Technical class, but that certain someone never did show up, so she picked up the box and strode robotically towards the classroom. On the way, Anna and Nonoko came hurrying towards her.

"Hotaru-chan! Hello!" Hotaru didn't reply, so Nonoko went on. "We came to inform you that Misaki-sensei said today and tomorrow will be dedicated to our projects and inventions. He told us that training for the use of your alice will start right after that. Labs 1, 2 and 3 are booked for us, and alice training will be in the classroom."

"...Thank you," Hotaru nodded at them before proceeding to the second lab, but not before she over-heard Anna and Nonoko whispering about her.

"Do you think Hotaru-chan is okay? She seemed rather down."

"Yeah, I did notice... But we shouldn't be talking about her..."

"I hope she cheers up soon."

Hotaru slammed the door harder than she had intended to. Curious faces turned to stare, but she went to the emptiest corner of the room and submerged herself into her work.

Due to the intense air and silent competition between students of different classes, Ruka was feeling no better than Hotaru while he dragged his tired self towards the Somatic classroom. Sumire was beside him, babbling something he couldn't quite understand as he wasn't paying attention. However, he was feeling better about one thing. Natsume finally got to take a break from his torturous missions. The thought ran his mind over and over again, and relief flooded throughout him.

"Ruka-kun!" Sumire's sharp voice pierced through his intermost thoughts and he stopped walking.

"Ruka-kun! The classroom is here, you overshot!" He turned around, and Sumire saw his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.

_What's right_, Ruka corrected silently in his mind. _Natsume taking a break is a good thing._ "Nothing's wrong. Sorry, Shouda-san," he managed as convincingly as he could, before letting Sumire drag him into the classroom where Narumi was giving a talk.

"There you are. I'll let it slip that you're late this time," Ruka felt a wave of gratitude towards the teacher. "As I was saying, since our alices couldn't be improved by training, I will just teach you some of the essential techniques and tricks that will allow you to buy time. So, I'll only need two hours from you every day, you can decide how to spend the rest."

Narumi was silenced by the deafening cheers of the class. **(A/N: Once again, poor Narumi. The first time was in the previous chapter.)**Ruka sank into the couch wearily as the rest of the class high-fived, did a dance, or shouted happily. Heck, Narumi didn't use his alice this time as someone with the males-only pheromone might deal with him.

Meanwhile, Natsume could barely find his way to the Latent class. It was his luck that he managed to find Koko, Kitsuneme and Mochu in front of the classroom, so he silently tagged behind.

"Oh? It's you, Natsume-kun. How come... _oh_," Mochu stammered. When Kitsuneme pushed open the door, the students immediately fell silent when they glanced at Natsume. Nobara was already there, huddling silently in a corner. The seniors, namely Sakurano and Subaru, exchanged a knowing glance.

Jinno cleared his throat. "You _will_ make Natsume and Nobara, our temporary additions, feel welcome. Since everyone is here, let's begin."

Serina was as smooth as always. She started on the basics of avoiding and dodging alices, and gave some background information on the Somatic and Technical classes. " We will do Latent class and Special class tomorrow. I have also foreseen that the special ability class will have an advantage." Natsume glanced at Serina. _Mikan's class._

Shock from the students. "Why? They don't even care, or even bother to train!"

"Noda-sensei is back, so they will have to start training. And have you even considered how dangerous they are? The shadow controller makes you unable to move. What'll he do then, stroll to the star? That's only one of them. You'll have to deal with the whole lot." Jinno lost his temper, and the whole class retreated to the opposite side of the classroom, so he rounded on Natsume and Nobara.

"Now, show me what you can do. Not against each other, just demonstrate your power."

"Stand back," Natsume hissed to the three standing dumbstruck behind him. Mochu immediately grabbed hold of Koko and Kitsuneme and leapt back just before flames sprang up in the classroom, scorching every inch of the space the students weren't occupying. Koko swore later that all he could see was "_Orange_, orange, and more orange." Everyone trembled and clung to one another. Jinno was muttering about something "_dangerous_".

Suddenly, there was ice. Flames were extinguished, and marble flooring glistened with transparent ice sheets. The terrifying side **(A/N: Nobara's split personality, remember?) **of Nobara wasn't as careful as Natsume. With the students screaming and in a panic, Nobara froze their wrists and feet so that they couldn't move. "_Noisy_," she commented darkly.

Natsume cursed under his breath. With Nobara like that, the only thing he could do was to hurt her, which would either fuel her anger or bring her back to her senses. No matter how uncaring he seemed, it wouldn't do to hurt a girl. So he just stood unmoving, looking in Jinno's direction and willing him to do something silently.

Jinno, apparently, got the message because he was expecting Natsume to melt the ice. However, seeing Natsume's eyes bore into his own, he struggled to move his fingers. Jinno pointed the end of the plastic stick at Nobara and sent a blast of electricity at her. Nobara wailed and sank to her knees, before her back hit the ground with a sickening thud. The ice melted away, leaving puddles of water, and Jinno hurried to Nobara's side. He then handed her to Makihara to be brought to the hospital.

The rest of the class stared at the fire alice, trying to comprehend what just happened.

"It's time for lunch. Jinno-sensei, they should be dismissed, no?" Serina still had her calm demeanor on and she cradled the crystal ball gently while sweeping out of the classroom. Nobody except Jinno, who nodded and followed suit, moved.

Natsume didn't say anything. It was ten minutes to lunch, but he retreated to his usual tree instead because he wasn't hungry. Inside, he actually felt a little pleased at the reaction of the class, just a tiny twinge.

His attention was diverted the rustling of leaves indicated Ruka's pressence.

"Natsume?"

"Did you skip class?"

"No... Narumi said he only needed two hours every day. How was your class?" Ruka continued while Natsume rolled his eyes.

"Perfect. Nobara got sent to the hospital because she went into her other mode."

Ruka's eyes widened at that. "How did she get into the hospital? The Ice Princess actually got hurt?"

"Jinno had to shock her, because she got angry and froze everything over."

They sat in comfortable silence for awhile, each wrapped up in his own thoughts, while staring down at the usually empty pavement. A few minutes later, Ruka heard some talking and several footsteps, Mikan and Hotaru walked by. Hotaru, the blackmailer. He shrank deeper into the leaves, which hid him from the expressionless amethyst eyes. _So much like Natsume._

Natsume was already safe from view. He didn't comment when Ruka moved, but a tiny smile flickered across his face for a split second.

"Hotaru, please. Just this once. I can't..." The brunette was saying. Can't what?

"You know what those seniors would notice."

"I was wrong... I shouldn't have told you," Mikan's voice hardened. "If you tell anyone, I will cut off my relationship with you, _Imai_. I'm sorry, I seriously have no choice." She turned and walked back the say she came. Tell what?

Hotaru stood there for a long time, not moving. Her hair swayed in the afternoon breeze. Ruka shot Natsume a confused look, and Natsume was frowning. Finally, in the distance, the bell that signalled the end of lunch break seemed to jolt the inventor out of her thoughts. When she turned around, Ruka managed to catch sight of her pale face, and his breath hitched in his chest. She had been crying. _Crying_. For someone who had crossed out "emotion" from her list, Hotaru crying was completely out of this world. The girl dragged herself back towards the building. _Dragged_. Ruka's mouth was hanging open. "What... just happened?"

"If the little girl doesn't want to tell, then clearly she wants us to stay out of this," Natsume landed lightly on the ground and walked away slowly, waiting for him. Ruka also dropped from the branch, and his mind swam with his own thoughts.


End file.
